Search - Tom Dowd & the Language of Music on DVD

A great documentary that puts a face to a familiar name

Robert Moore | Chicago, IL USA | 10/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I grew up seeing the name "Tom Dowd" on a host of the albums I owned, from Led Zeppelin to Otis Redding to Aretha Franklin to Cream to the Allman Brothers to Derek and the Dominoes. Precisely who he was and what role he played wasn't clear to me, but I learned that odds were any release from Atlantic Records was going to have his name on it. This splendid documentary puts a face to the name and explains precisely who he was and what he accomplished. The list of people he worked with is even more impressive than I had already known, and extends to the Coasters, the Drifters, John Coltrane, Ray Charles (who makes a prominent appearance in the film), Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Booker T. & the MGs. That, of course, is an absolutely stunning array of talent.

What the documentary does a great job of is telling us both who Tom Dowd is and why he was such a crucial figure in the history of popular music in the past. The narrative is nonlinear, so that in the opening images in the film it isn't at all clear why the atomic test at the Bikini Atoll was shown (you could tell it was the Bikini test because a vast number of ships, from both the allies and the Axis powers, were involved). We learn later in the movie that Dowd was originally studying to be a physicist at Columbia University and was throughout WW II involved in the Manhattan Project, unlike many on the project actually working in Manhattan. Dowd explains that he abandoned the study of physics because he had been working on cutting edge issues in the field, but after the war physics departments were actually behind the times. Instead of regressing in his studies, he followed his other great love, music. The film tells how he became involved as a sound engineer, eventually becoming the sound engineer and a producer at the fledgling Atlantic Records, where he pioneered recording techniques that went behind the single microphone set up that had been standard before then. A nod is paid towards recording pioneer and virtuoso guitarist Les Paul, who in his own studio created the first eight track recording techniques. Among the other innovations that Dowd brought about were the replacement of knobs with the slide wires that are now standard. Throughout two things are clear: Dowd's technical mastery and his tremendous musicianship.

One of the joys of the documentary are the remarkable figures that are interviewed and help in telling the story. These include people like Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, Eric Clapton, several members of the Allman Brothers, and many others. My favorite moment was defintely when Ray Charles, who of course was blind, was being asked about Dowd, unaware that Dowd was standing off to the side. When he reveals to Charles that he is there Ray reacts with joyous outrage and it is great to see the affection the two have for each other.

My only beef with the movie is a personal peeve I have, and that is the tendency of the filmmakers to do "reenactments" of scenes from the past. This is a technique I consistently detest in documentaries. Others might not be bothered by it, but it bugs the heck out of me and I cringed whenever that happened.

I think fans of music ought to see this not merely to learn more about one of the seminal figures in popular music of the past several decades, but to learn more about how the music we hear on albums is actually created. Often, the musicians need producers to help at crucial moments. A great example of this comes when Dowd recounts doing a recording session with Cream. They had a song that wasn't quite coming together, when Dowd suggested to drummer Ginger Baker that he employ a drum pattern that was much like the tom toms one hears used by Indians in Westerns. The pattern worked and the result was one of Cream's greatest hits, "Sunshine of Your Love." Sadly, Dowd did not live to see this film released, dying in 2002 shortly after filming was completed. The film serves, therefore, as a memorial."